Moord op Francie Lake, De

Inhoud

De op Amerikaanse leest geschoeide uitgeverij van tijdschriften - van twijfelachtig allooi - was de schepping en spreekbuis van Octavius, 'Ocky', Gaye. De mensen die hem omringden konden er maar één mening op nahouden, en dat was de mening van Ocky. Een van die mensen was Francie Lake, zijn secretaresse. Hoe en waarom werd zij vermoord?

Bespreking

Rupert Murdock in the sixties

The successful magazine empire, Plain Man Enterprises, is all Octavius "Ocky" Gaye, better known as "The Plain Man" himself, cares about. He has built-up this empire from scratch and no-one is ever going to take it away from him. That is why all his employees are treated like mindless puppets. The only valid belief is the one shared by him and he roots out every possible difference of opinion with an almost inhuman ruthlessness. No law has ever been able to stop him doing this. But when one day his secretary Francis Lake is found murdered in her own house, the seemingly untouchable empire starts to collapse. As an unscrupulous ruler Ocky manages to keep the show running, but behind the scenes the police are discovering that the truth is creating a lot more victims.

The Killing of Francis Lake, first published in 1962, tells the story of a media colossus years before we got confronted with guys like Rupert Murdock. That is maybe the strongest point of this book. Although it considered being a detective novel, the story is so plain and simple that no-one will have any problems determining the real culprit. Knowing that Julian Symons, who died in 1994, is regarded as one of the finest post-war British crime writers, this book is rather disappointing. It must be said that the style and atmosphere has a rather authentic feel to it, but the plot is not strong enough to absorb the reader.